Elana Karopkin
Assistant Superintendent

Undergraduate Degree: B.A. from Bryn Mawr College
Graduate Degree: M.A. from New York University

As an assistant superintendent for Achievement First, my most important responsibility is supporting our amazing principals so that their schools are as successful as possible. I am so lucky to work for Achievement First where I have a portfolio of only three schools. Most people in other organizations who have positions similar to mine work with 20 or more schools. The type of scale obviously limits the type of support you can provide. I get to work in schools almost every single day—side-by-side with principals in their daily work of coaching teachers, meeting with parents and teaching our incredible students. It’s a very exciting time for Achievement First, especially as we prepare to graduate our first class to college ever!

Best job: Immediately before joining Achievement First, I was the founding principal of the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice, a small, unscreened public school in Brooklyn, NY. Being the founding principal of a school was an extraordinary experience. I got to watch teachers create rigorous and engaging curriculum and deliver top-quality instruction as we prepared our students for college. The school now has two graduating classes where 100 percent of the students applied to and were accepted to college. Graduates have received millions of dollars in grants and scholarships and are at colleges across the country. I am so proud of all of them!

Best thing about working at Achievement First: I love the culture of Achievement First. Being nice really matters here. Being humble and hungry to learn really matters here as well. I love being surrounded by so many smart, passionate and dedicated people who are relentless about asking themselves how they can create the best possible schools for our students.

Proudest accomplishment: My proudest accomplishment was graduation day for the Class of 2008 from the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice.

Childhood career ambition: A lawyer. I founded a school for law and justice so I got sort of close. After I served on a jury, I knew that practicing law would get me involved too late in the game in the lives of young people. I decided to pursue teaching and knew immediately that education was a calling for me. 

Special talents: I can make a mean lasagna that lasts all week if you don’t mind eating the same thing for lunch and dinner every day. 

Favorites:

• Food: New Haven pizza—who knew? Thanks, Achievement First!
• Movie: So many! I tend to like anything with Clint Eastwood as an actor or a director.
• Book: Most recently, Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. I also try to stay up-to-date with my New Yorkers. It’s a losing battle.
• TV Show: I am a closet reality show addict. I love Mad Men and The Wire, but my secret passions are American Idol and Project Runway.
• Holiday: Thanksgiving—what else? How can you not love a holiday entirely built around eating?
• Teacher: My statistics teacher, Mr. Schneider. He really made us think—both about statistics and about ourselves and the world around us. He made me feel as though he truly valued my opinion; he was the first teacher who welcomed me into the adult world of ideas and sophisticated concepts. That sticks.

Morgan Dixon
Director of Strategic Initiatives

Undergraduate Degree: B.A. in political science and African American studies from University of Southern California
Graduate Degree: M.Ed. in education policy and leadership from Seton Hall University

As director of strategic initiatives, I am responsible for the strategic planning and management of new initiatives and pilot programs. I research best practices in high-impact areas, develop tools to implement these best practices, share resources with schools and benchmark success. I am currently working with three middle schools—Achievement First Bridgeport, Achievement First Bushwick and Achievement First East New York—to pilot a new instructional approach called Life Prep. Life Prep is a school-wide strategy to teach moral reasoning, life skills and community values. The goal is to better prepare our students for college, leadership in their communities and global citizenship, and to invest students—as critical thinkers and problem solvers—in this collective mission.

Best job: Before working at Achievement First, I served as education intern for the United Nations in the Office of Children and Armed Conflict. I researched and reported on school-based Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Programs (DDR) in conflict regions all over the world and served on the Sudan Task Force.

Best thing about working at Achievement First: Learning from my colleagues and spending time with students and families. I have a great memory of participating in a double-dutch challenge with four Achievement First Bridgeport Academy parents after school. They won, of course!

Proudest accomplishment: Serving on the human rights delegation to Guatemala to document stories of indigenous farmers after the civil war. I am also very proud of founding GirlTrek, a public health non-profit organization.

Childhood career ambition: Park ranger (sans the tight green pants; no can do!)

Special talents: It's more of a hobby—hiking. Last year, I backpacked for 11 days through the Pasayden Wilderness. It changed my life.

Favorites:

• Food: Bhindi masala and peshwari naan with mango chutney ... and sweet potato pie, who am I kidding?!
• Movie: Too tough. Here are a few: Whale Rider, Slumdog Millionaire, Dead Poets Society, The Namesake, Young Frankenstein, Glory, Legends of the Fall and Purple Rain. Email me for the complete list!
• Book: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde.
• TV Show: Family Guy and History Detectives
• Holiday: Labor Day—workers’ rights and cookouts, can’t top that!
• Teacher: Mr. Paggett, my music teacher, had a fierce commitment to excellence, but knew how to laugh.
• Place to visit: Havana, Cuba—claves, trumpets, congas, moonlight, sandy beaches and good people, what’s not to love?!